‘True Blood:’ The price of ‘bliss’

So, the Dallas arc ended (as did Godric), and there are apparently three more episodes left. Which seems like a lot to me, considering how tiresome the Maryann storyline has become. Let’s hope the payoff for those episodes is stonger than the start of this week’s ep.

Which brings us to the start of this week’s ep. They wimped out — or Luke wasn’t a terribly skilled suicide bomber — and no one of any real consequence died in the explosion. They did kill Stan, the only one of the dead that we’d gotten to know, which is disappointing — he seemed like a promising eeeeeeeeeevil character. And much more promising than Isabelle, who was allowed to live and was selected to take over the district after the national vampire leadership ousted Godric over the Fellowship of the Sun business.

When Luke opened his vest to reveal a silver-spackled bomb, Eric hurled his large, manly frame over Sookie to protect her from the blast. He took a few hits as a result, a development he turned to his advantage by asking that she suck the silver from his chest. In the process, she swallowed some of his blood, unwittingly giving them a connection that Bill finds hugely upsettling. (If things were reversed, and Bill found himself with a similar connection to another woman, I’m guessing they would have had a very long discussion about it that would have ended with Sookie flouncing off to sleep by herself. But I digress.) She’s also now having sexy (and disturbing — Eric being playful is just as disturbing as Eric smiling) dreams about Eric.

The entire Dallas episode (minus the Eric/Sookie connection, on which they took no official stand) was deemed a fiasco by the national vampire leadership. Godric admitted that he had given himself over to the Fellowship, a choice that was never fully explained, aside from his weak argument that it was only a matter of time before someone was taken. He was stripped of his sheriff status, and vowed to make amends. By that, it seems, he meant he would sacrifice himself in atonement, and headed up to the roof of the hotel to greet the sun. Eric begged him not to (“I will keep you alive by force”), but Godric had made up his mind. The scene would have been much more effective if it had just been between the two of them. Maddeningly, Sookie couldn’t leave them alone, telling Bill she felt she had to offer comfort to Godric. Apparently, it didn’t occur to her that this might be a private moment between a vamp and his maker. When Eric had to leave, she told him she would stay with Godric until he was gone; she used his final moments — his final moments! — to tell him how stupid it was for him to hand himself over to the Fellowship. When he told her “I want to burn,” I suspect it may have partly been to get away from her.

Meanwhile, back in Bon Temps, Maryann was still stirring things up. She still wants Sam as a sacrifice, going so far as to try to snatch him out of the jail cell where he’s being held on suspicion of muuuuuuuuurder. Sam, knowing she was coming, transformed into a fly and flew away. Maryann was most displeased by this, though it didn’t stop her from angrily releasing everybody. By the end of the episode, she ordered everybody at Merlotte’s to help her find him. (She didn’t notice the fly that had spent the evening on the table at Grandma Stackhouse’s place, watching her play strip poker with Tara and Eggs and, apparently, planning to team up with Andy to take Maryann down.)

That wholesome evening ended when Lafayette and Tara’s mother showed up. (Their visit seems to have been orchestrated by Lafayette, who had been enraged by the bruises on Tara’s face and immediately jumped to the conclusion that her constant companion Eggs had beat her up — a correct conclusion, though there was a little more to it than that.) Maryann cruelly toyed with Tara’s mom, offering her booze and generally being nasty while coaching Tara to do the same. That seems to be the only reason for Tara’s mom to be there at all, to serve as a punching bag, both literally and metaphorically — if Lafayette felt like he needed backup, would he really turn to Tara’s mother? That’s some awfully lazy writing. In the end, Lafayette was able to carry Tara, who had gone all black-eyed, out of the house, and Maryann convinced Eggs not to chase after them.

So what did you think? What’s it going to take to bring Maryann down? And do Jessica and Hoyt have any hope as a couple?